Huchzermeyer, Marie. 2003. From dominance to diversity in international cooperation: a view from South Africa. NA-ERUS. Network-Association of European Researchers on Urbanisation in the South. http://www.naerus.net

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http://hdl.handle.net/10539/12145

dc.description.abstract

Critical research in the 1970s and 1980s in South Africa played an important role in exposing the
implications of repressive and discriminatory urban policy and management. This critical urban research
movement, which also engaged with approaches for a post-apartheid city, was subsequently replaced by a
neo-liberal turn in urban research, largely informed by dominant international research thrusts. Within this
context, what is the role of international cooperation?
The paper takes a critical look at north-south urban research initiatives involving research in South Africa,
to which the author has had direct exposure. The paper also examines the changing conditions under which
local research funding is made available in South Africa, using the example of current restructuring of
research funding at Wits University, Johannesburg. The paper argues that these conditions broadly follow
the (neo-liberal) institutional trends set by the Anglophone northern counterparts. Should north-south
cooperation reinforce this trend?
The paper highlights the critical need for publication and dissemination in the south, of local as well as
international research. Access in the south to academic literature, and the publication and dissemination of
local research, are cruc ial in order for southern researchers to effectively cooperate. The paper points to the
imbalance of facilities and resources in many north-south cooperations. Linked to this is the critical
question as to where and by whom the research agenda is set. Far from assuming that research on South
African urban issues is best initiated, conducted and funded locally, the paper argues that value is added
when researchers from different regions apply different questions to the same problematic. Here the
example is used of a group of young international and local PhD researchers addressing a similar urban
problematic in South Africa, but with different theoretical approaches depending on the region of their
academic home.
The complexity of the unevenly developed urban south requires many different questions to be asked. The
paper argues that ideally north-south cooperation should lead to enrichment in terms of the research
questions and the theoretical approach, rather than imposing one dominant framework as is often the case.

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dc.language.iso

en

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dc.publisher

NA-ERUS. Network-Association of European Researchers on Urbanisation in the South. http://www.naerus.net

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dc.subject

North-south Urban Research Initiatives.South Africa Local Research Funding. Neo-Liberal Institutional Trends. Anglophone Northern Counterparts. Publication and dissemination in the South.

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dc.title

From dominance to diversity in international cooperation: a view from South Africa